@trudogg: "[...tick, tick, tick, tick...]
In the opening statements at the trial of former White House aide I.
Lewis �Scooter� Libby, new evidence emerged pointing toward a criminal
conspiracy at the highest levels of George W. Bush�s White House.
Libby�s defense attorney Theodore Wells described a conversation from
2003 between Vice President Dick Cheney and Libby, his chief of staff,
at which a worried Libby complained that �they�re trying to set me up.
They want me to be the sacrificial lamb.�
According to Wells, Libby then told his boss, �I will not be
sacrificed so Karl Rove can be protected,� referring to Bush�s top
political strategist who now holds the post of deputy White House
chief of staff.
Wells also cited meeting notes written by Cheney suggesting that Libby
had been tasked with the job of countering accusations from former
Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had publicly charged that Bush �twisted�
intelligence about Iraq�s nuclear program to help deceive the American
people into supporting the invasion of Iraq.
�Not going to protect one staffer and sacrifice the guy that was asked
to stick his neck in the meat grinder,� Cheney�s notes read, according
to Wells.
In September 2003, when a criminal investigation was launched into
whether administration officials had leaked the name of Wilson�s wife,
covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, the White House issued a statement
clearing Rove and other officials, but didn�t initially include Libby
on the list.
Libby�s lament, as described by his lawyer, indicates that the Cheney
aide believed the White House was trying to protect some officials
involved in leaking Plame�s identity while leaving Libby exposed as
�the sacrificial lamb.�
Based on the public record, it now appears Libby was part of an
administration conspiracy involving at least seven officials,
including Bush and Cheney, seeking to discredit Wilson, one of the
first Washington insiders to challenge the President�s misuse of
intelligence to justify the preemptive war against Iraq.
The record already reveals that three senior administration officials
� Libby, Rove and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage � had
discussed Plame�s CIA identity with journalists amid the campaign to
undermine Wilson. As part of that tearing down of the former
ambassador, administration officials claimed that Wilson�s wife had
helped him get the assignment to check out reports that Iraq was
trying to obtain yellowcake uranium from Niger, suspicions that Wilson
and others concluded were unfounded.
Two other unnamed officials who traveled with Bush on a state visit to
Africa in July 2003 reportedly encouraged a Time magazine
correspondent to ask about the circumstances behind Wilson�s trip,
pointing him in the direction of Plame. At the top of the operation to
counter Wilson were Bush, who approved the partial release of a CIA
National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq�s WMD, and Cheney, who
dispatched Libby to meet with reporters.
Why Rove?
One of the unanswered questions about the Wilson-Plame story is why
Bush would have involved his chief political operative Rove in
discussions that involved the identity of a covert CIA officer,
normally considered one of the most sensitive secrets in the U.S.
government shared only with officials who have a strict need to know.
Yet, instead of treating Plame�s identity with care, senior Bush
administration officials appeared to have bandied the information
about, giving it to political operative Rove and then sharing it with
journalists, one of whom � right-wing columnist Robert Novak �
published a column outing Plame and thus exposing her overseas spy
network.
The administration behavior suggests that it put protecting Bush�s
political flanks ahead of guarding sensitive national security
secrets.
Based on the opening defense statement in the Libby trial on Jan. 23,
the White House then made saving political guru Rove a higher priority
than defending Cheney�s chief of staff who had been a central figure
in developing the Iraq War policies.
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, in his opening statement,
outlined the case in support of five felony counts against Libby for
allegedly lying to investigators and obstructing justice. Fitzgerald
said Libby had been part of a fierce campaign by the Bush
administration to beat back Wilson�s early criticism of its case for
war in Iraq.
In his defense, Libby apparently intends to present himself as the
administration�s fall guy hung out to dry while other officials ran
for cover and got protection. But that argument suggests that the
White House was engaged in a conscious cover-up, with Bush apparently
playing a lead role.
Bush intervened publicly on the Plame-gate case on Sept. 30, 2003,
when he announced � disingenuously as it turned out � that he wanted
to get to the bottom of the matter.
�If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it
is,� Bush said. �I want to know the truth. If anybody has got any
information inside our administration or outside our administration,
it would be helpful if they came forward with the information so we
can find out whether or not these allegations are true.�
Yet, even as Bush was professing his curiosity and calling for anyone
with information to step forward, he was withholding the fact that he
had authorized the declassification of some secrets about the alleged
Iraqi nuclear program and had ordered Cheney to arrange for those
secrets to be given to reporters.
Bush�s behind-the-scenes role came into clearer focus later with the
release of a court document citing testimony from Libby, who claimed
Bush approved the selective release of intelligence in July 2003 to
counter growing complaints that Bush had hyped evidence about Iraq�s
pursuit of yellowcake uranium in Niger.
Libby testified that he was told by Cheney that Bush had approved a
plan in which Libby would tell a specific New York Times reporter
about the CIA�s secret analysis, according to a court filing by
special prosecutor Fitzgerald.
�Defendant�s [Libby�s] participation in a critical conversation with
[Times reporter] Judith Miller on July 8 [2003] occurred only after
the Vice President advised defendant that the President specifically
had authorized defendant to disclose certain information in the NIE,�
the highly classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, the
filing said.
In other words, though Bush knew a great deal about how the
anti-Wilson scheme got started � since he was involved in starting it
� he uttered misleading public statements to conceal the White House
hand and possibly to signal to others that they should follow suit in
denying knowledge.
During the opening remarks of Libby�s trial, the spotlight landed on
Bush�s closest political adviser, Karl Rove, but the alleged sacrifice
of Libby to spare Rove only makes sense if the President had some
involvement in orchestrating how the cover-up was supposed to play
out.
Robert Parry"
    @derf: "On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 10:12:02 -0500, trudogg <email_address>
wrote:
<quote>
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.   You stupid flybrain, the Plame leaker HAS
COME OUT and he is Richard Armitage.  Even Fitzy agrees he didn't know
about Ms. Plame's covert status.
BTW, how are things in the *snicker* reality-based community
*snicker*?
regards, Fred
As Sen. Obama launches presidential bid, Sen. Clinton consults mirror mirror on the wall."
    @nada: "Wilma!
"Derf" <email_address> wrote in message 
news:<email_address>
<quote>
Posted via a free Usenet account from <url>"
    @trudogg: "On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:05:24 -0500, "Seancito" <email_address>
wrote:
<quote>
...you're responding to a pre-recorded sockpuppet that really, really
needs washing. Better use an extra measure of bleach..."
    @derf: "On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:32:08 -0500, trudogg <email_address>
wrote:
<quote>
He's certainly more intelligent than some BDS infected nutter that
doesn't even know the meaning of 'sockpuppet.'
regards, Fred
As Sen. Obama launches presidential bid, Sen. Clinton consults mirror mirror on the wall."
    @trudogg: "On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 23:06:05 GMT, WaIIy <email_address>
wrote:
<quote>
...and it really is too bad that you don't pay closer attention. But
one thing is certain, a lie is still a lie...and your group has been
more prolific than most in spreading them."
    @trudogg: "On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 23:50:38 GMT, WaIIy <email_address>
wrote:
<quote>
...my idol? You really don't read do you...? But do you really want to
go tit for tat on this? And I wouldn't have to go back to 97-98 to
find stuff..."
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